NET NEUTRALITY STUCK IN NEUTRAL – “On the campaign trail, an open Internet was one of President Barack Obama’s top technology priorities. Over the past five months, telecom and Internet companies have taken multiple stabs at coming up with a compromise for the controversial issue. ... But it was all for naught – at least for now. Talks fell apart at the Federal Communications Commission over the summer. Last month, the latest effort to craft a legislative fix failed when Republicans refused to support a proposal by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). So what’s next?” Kim Hart and Jen Martinez parse how each of the stakeholders view the state of play in today’s paper: http://politi.co/9HEIX0

ALSO: FCC TAKES ON BILL SHOCK – “At the agency’s monthly meeting Thursday, Chairman Julius Genachowski will recommend ways to help consumers avoid 'bill shock,' or surprise when they find unexpected charges on their cell phone bills. ... The wireless industry disagrees, saying it already provides adequate tools for consumers and additional requirements will be too expensive. CTIA, the wireless industry’s trade group, points out that wireless-related complaints fell 4 percent last year, and that the average local monthly bill fell 4.2 percent over the past year, even as wireless services exploded. ... 'We are constantly working to keep all of our 292.8 million subscribers happy, and we will do more,' said Chris Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA.” More: http://politi.co/dqjtLE. We check out Udall’s bill shock effort after the jump.

Good Thursday morning, time for your Morning Tech. Drinking Red Bull allegedly gives you wings, or so go the commercials – unless you’re Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner, who can no longer count on the energy drink company for support in his quest to skydive from space. The project – a part-scientific, part-stunt attempt to see if a human could break the sound barrier – lost its key financial backer this week after a promoter sued the prospective skydiver for taking his idea. The plans are now on hold, meaning there’s still some chance scientists will be able to reap the benefits of Baumgartner’s jump and research the kind of technology that could make life-support systems at high altitude possible. It also means there’s still a shot we’ll see a TV special on this sometime soon, so stay tuned (Hat tip: http://fxn.ws/aKpwBN).

INTEL TALKS EARNINGS, POLITICS – Intel’s impressive third quarter earnings (a 59 percent jump) has made tech investors breathe a little easier this week, as it eases fears that demand for computers is shrinking in the tough economy. PC sales do face softening demand, but the company said this week that spending on technology is still robust. We caught up with Intel’s director of global policy Peter Cleveland, former chief of staff to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, to get his thoughts on the news.

“The company is diversifying away from microprocessors,” Cleveland told MT. “It’s migrating away from just being a supplier of PC manufacturers and looking at other larger products as well.”

He tied Intel’s future success to Washington, saying the federal government needs to consider more business-friendly tax and trade policies to keep American companies competitive on the global stage. “If the government doesn’t take these steps, the Samsungs of the world will gain ground on us. Republicans and Democrats alike want us to be more competitive and innovative. ... We produce the most complex products in the world. We really count on lawmakers to smartly help us versus undermine our efforts.”

** A message from the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities: We agree with President Obama’s goal of retaking the world lead in college graduation rates by 2020. America’s private sector schools stand ready to do our part. Visit http://myeducationchoice.org today. **

GOWALLA GEARING UP FOR 2012 – In August we told you that Gowalla launched a set of tools geared toward the election season, including a new feature that lets politicians share where they are on the campaign trail. Gov. Charlie Crist (I-Fla.) was one of the first candidates to use the new offerings and his Democratic challenger for the Senate, Kendrick Meek, signed up for a Gowalla account not long after.

Since the tools launched, Gowalla tells us, hundreds of political events, such as a rallies and town halls, have been created on the location-based service and thousands of people have checked into these events. And Gowalla users like to share which events they’re at on other social networks, too. About half of people who check into political events on Gowalla push out their status, comments and photos to Facebook, Twitter or both social networks.

And it sounds like interest in the politics-geared tools is growing. Gowalla says it has already started talking with both Democrats and Republicans about using its service for the 2012 elections. In Gowalla's home state of Texas, the tools have gained traction with several candidates competing in local races. (h/t Jen Martinez)

UDALL PUSHING OWN BILL SHOCK EFFORT – The New Mexico Democrat praised Genachowski on Wednesday for forging ahead with a process that could soon result in “bill shock” rules. At the same time, he called on the FCC to consider adding an element of his bill to its plans – a provision that would require phone companies to get customer consent before “charging for services that are not covered by the regular monthly service plans.” According to Udall, “These provisions would increase transparency and reduce bill shock at a time of increased popularity for smartphones, such as BlackBerries and iPhones, which are equipped with new features beyond traditional voice services.”

WHAT’S THE STATUS OF THE BILL SHOCK BILL? – An aide to Udall tells us they haven’t yet made a push for co-sponsorship, but meetings with members are ongoing, and interest is high. House offices are also exploring the legislation. And as for why Udall is pushing his legislation as the FCC is doing its own thing, the aide said: “It’s the right result for consumers that counts. The FCC already has the authority to protect consumers in this regard. ... The Udall bill does go further than the rules the FCC recommended today. Sen. Udall continues to recommend both the notification and consent provisions in his bill are adopted.”

MORE ON NET NEUTRALITY STATUS – Waxman said he would “not close the door on moving legislation this Congress” on net neutrality, adding that “cooler heads may prevail after the elections.” Cooler heads being a rare commodity in Washington these days, there’s no guarantee the politics will be less tricky after Nov. 2. If Democrats retain control of the House, Republicans may be willing to revisit the proposal, sources say. But if Republicans gain control of the House, they’ll probably want to come up with their own set of ground rules.

“There’s still a chance the Waxman effort could get reviewed in the lame duck period in a way that still might attract some bipartisan support,” said Paul Gallant, telecom analyst at Concept Capital’s Washington Research Group. “It’s highly unlikely a bill would actually pass, but getting it introduced would be a good place holder that Congress is finding some common ground on this very divisive issue.”

Also from Gallant: “I do think the ISPs would welcome a bipartisan bill being introduced on the lame duck that was close to what Waxman got stakeholder consensus on. … The more progress Congress make on this issue, the more it feels like a congressional story rather than an FCC reclassification story.”

CAMPAIGN BYTES:

WHITMAN DROPS $20M MORE OF HER OWN CASH – Reports our own Andy Barr, “The former eBay CEO has now contributed $139 million of her own funds to her record-setting campaign. Whitman has pledged to spend up to $150 million of her own cash on the campaign.” More: http://politi.co/aguznN

AOL TO BUY YAHOO? – WSJ reports AOL and several private equity firms are exploring making an offer to buy Yahoo, but discussions are still preliminary. The move would combine two struggling Internet brands. http://bit.ly/bBrswW

ZUCKERBERG’S DUFFEL BAG – Lawyers for the man suing Facebook claim the site’s founder lives a transient existence out of a duffel bag and isn’t truly a resident of California, WSJ says: http://bit.ly/aPzL4N

SOCIAL SEARCH – Microsoft and Facebook announced a new twist on Bing search engine, which could help both companies compete with common adversary Google, NYT says: http://nyti.ms/dCZxtK

APPLE PREDICTIONS – CNET gives five predictions of what Apple will unveil at its event next week: http://bit.ly/a3ncpa

NBC ENDS GOOGLE PARTNERSHIP – LA Times reports that NBC Universal has stopped providing unsold commercial time from several of its cable channels to Google, dealing a blow to Google’s plan of selling ads beyond the Internet: http://lat.ms/dzUfsZ

A FEW EXTRA DATA CENTERS – The U.S. government has 2,094 data centers, nearly 1,000 more than previous estimates, according to an updated inventory by federal agencies. … It turns out Vivek Kundra was massively underestimating the extent of the redundancy, reports Data Center Knowledge: http://bit.ly/cXbhRJ

** A message from the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities: We agree with President Obama’s goal of retaking the world lead in college graduation rates by 2020. America’s private sector colleges and universities stand ready to do our part. The millions of students in our schools deserve the same resources and encouragement as those students in other higher education institutions. The sooner collaborative work among all sectors begins, the sooner the dreams of hopeful students can become realities, and our country can meet the demands of the 21st century. Visit http://myeducationchoice.org and tell Congress, “It’s my education. My job. My choice.” **